NAME

mt − magnetic tape manipulating program

SYNOPSIS

mt [ −f tapename ] command [ count ]

DESCRIPTION

mt sends commands to a magnetic tape drive.  If tapename is not specified, the environment variable TAPE is used; if TAPE does not exist, mt uses the device /dev/rmt12. Note that tapename must reference a raw (not block) tape device.  By default mt performs the requested operation once.  Operations may be performed multiple times by specifying count.

The available commands are listed below.  Only as many characters as are required to uniquely identify a command need be specified. 

eof, weof
Write count end-of-file marks at the current position on the tape. 

fsf Forward space count files. 

fsr Forward space count records. 

bsf Back space count files. 

bsr Back space count records. 

For the following commands, count is ignored:

rewind
Rewind the tape.

offline, rewoffl
Rewind the tape and place the tape unit off-line.

status
Print status information about the tape unit.

retension
Wind the tape to the end of the reel and then rewind it, smoothing out the tape tension. (count is ignored.) 

erase Erase the entire tape. 

mt returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful, 1 if the command was unrecognized, and 2 if an operation failed. 

FILES

/dev/rmt∗Raw magnetic tape interface
/dev/rar∗Raw Archive cartridge tape interface
/dev/rst∗Raw SCSI tape interface
/dev/rxt∗Raw Xylogics tape interface

SEE ALSO

mtio(4), dd(1), environ(5V)

BUGS

Not all devices support all options.  For example, ar(4S) and st(4S) currently do not support the fsr, bsf, or bsr options; but they are the only only ones that currently support the retension and rewind options.  Nine-track tapes, in particular, do not support the retension option. 

Sun Release 3.5  —  Last change: 23 September 1985